This webinar discusses accessible educational materials (AEM) and their importance as a foundation for universal design for learning (UDL). It defines AEM and explains how they include both printed and digital materials and technologies. The webinar outlines the legal requirements for AEM under laws like the IDEA, ADA, and Section 504. It discusses how AEM helps ensure equitable access to learning for all students and provides options to meet different learner needs. Examples are given of who benefits from AEM, and resources from the AEM Center are shared, such as guidance on creating accessible materials from the start. UDL is introduced as a framework for optimizing instruction for all learners based on how humans learn.

1. ACCESSIBLE
EDUCATIONAL
MATERIALS AS A
FOUNDATION FOR UDL
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Luis Perez
Technical Assistant Specialist
National Center on Accessible
Educational Materials at CAST

2. Accessible Educational
Materials as a Foundation
for UDL
Luis Pérez, TA Specialist, AEM Center, CAST

3. AEM Center Mission and Goals
To build the capacity of
• States and districts,
• Higher ed institutions,
• Workforce development agencies,
• Publishers and edtech developers,
• Families
and other stakeholders to increase the availability and use of
high-quality accessible materials and technologies that
support improved learning opportunities for students with
disabilities.
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4. 4
CAST Mission and Goals
CAST has a singular ambition: Bust
the barriers to learning that millions
of people experience every day.
We do this by helping educators and
organizations apply insights from the
learning sciences and leading-edge
practices to educational design and
implementation.

5. Goals for Today’s Webinar
• Define AEM
• Discuss the benefits of AEM
• Resources from AEM Center
@AEM_Center 5

6. What is your goal?
@AEM_Center 6
What is one thing
you would like to
take away from
today’s webinar?

7. 7
The “Why” of AEM
Why is AEM important?
What are the legal requirements?

8. 8
Key Principles of Non-Discrimination –
ADA and Section 504

9. 9
There is a significant
workforce gap between
people with disabilities and
people without 20.2% vs. 69.1%
source: U.S. DOL, June 2018
@AEM_Center | #aem4all

10. Why AEM?
@AEM_Center 10
• Ensure equitable access to learning: provide opportunities to fully
participate and make progress in the curriculum for all students
• Provide all learners with options: help all learners identify and develop
their own learning preferences
• Follow federal laws and regulations: IDEA, Section 504, ADA

11. 11
The “What of AEM and
UDL”
What do we mean when we say something is accessible?
What makes materials and technologies accessible?
Where does accessibility fit into UDL?

12. How do you define A-11-Y?
What would you tweet as
a definition of A-11-Y?
Please share in the chat.
@AEM_Center 12

13. 13
U.S. Department of
Education/Office for Civil Rights

14. AIM (IDEA 04)
Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM)
• IDEA provision requires state and local education
agencies to ensure that printed textbooks and related
core instructional materials are provided to learners
with print disabilities in specialized formats in a timely
manner.
• Legal requirement is placed on state and local education
agencies. IDEA does not place requirements on
publishers.
• AEM Center has sample contract language
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15. 15
NIMAS
National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard
(NIMAS)
• Digital file format for publishers who get requests
for specialized formats of print materials

16. The NIMAC
Upon request, publishers deposit the NIMAS file of their
materials in the National Instructional Materials Access
Center (NIMAC)
• States and districts should have this as a
requirement in contracts with publishers
• NIMAS files are downloaded from the NIMAC by state
Authorized Users to be converted to student-ready files
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17. 17
Specialized Formats of Print
Materials
• Print materials converted
to braille, large print,
audio, or digital text
• Exactly the same
information as the printed
materials
• Only the presentation of
the material is different

18. 18
Sources of Specialized Formats:
Accessible Media Producers (AMPs)
Your state Instructional Materials Center (IMC)

19. 19
AIM Becomes AEM in 2015
• AIM expands from specialized formats to include digital
materials and technologies
• “Accessible educational materials” means print- and
technology-based educational materials, including printed
and electronic textbooks and related core materials that are
required by SEAs and LEAs for use by all students,
produced or rendered in accessible media, written and
published primarily for use in early learning programs,
elementary or secondary schools to support teaching and
learning.
CFDA 84.327Z, Footnote #10

20. AEM Includes AIM
• AIM
• IDEA
• Specialized formats of
print materials
• AEM
• 2015
• Print AND digital
materials and
technologies
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21. 21
Accessible Materials and
Technologies Interoperability
Accessible Materials: information or
content to be learned
Designed or enhanced in a way that
makes them usable by the widest
possible range of learner variability
regardless of format (print, digital,
graphical, audio, video)
Accessible Technology: hardware or
software that delivers that content
Directly usable without assistive
technology (AT) or usable with it
(Usable by people with a wide range
of abilities and disabilities)
Source: accessibletech.org

22. Digital Material-Technology in
Accessible Harmony
Students read accessible
ebooks on accessible tablets
with built-in options for
access:
• Display customization
• Text to speech
• Screen reader
• Enabled with:
• Bluetooth (Braille Display)
• Closed captions
• Video description
@AEM_Center

23. POUR on the Accessibility: WCAG
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1
@AEM_Center | #aem4all 23

24. AEM Center Resources: Creating Accessible
Materials from the Start
@AEM_Center | #aem4all 24

25. AEM Center Online Course
@AEM_Center 25

26. Personalizing the Reading
Experience
@AEM_Center 26

27. What is Universal Design for
Learning?
If you had to provide
an elevator pitch for
UDL, what would you
say?
Please share in the
chat.
@AEM_Center 27

28. Universal Design for Learning
(UDL)
A framework based on scientific insights into how humans learn that seeks
to optimize instruction in order to allow every person to become an expert
learner.

29. CREATING ACCESS: Universal Design
MAKING LEARNING MEANINGFUL: Build Learning Skills
BUILDING INDEPENDENCE: Internalize Learning
Behaviors

30. 30
Accessibility and Universal Design for
Learning
“The purpose of
education is not to make
information accessible,
but rather to teach
learners how to
transform accessible
information into
useable knowledge.”
Introduction to the UDL
Guidelines (CAST, 2012)

31. 31
The “Who” of AEM
Who needs AEM?
What are some examples?

32. Who Uses Accessible Materials
and Technologies?
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33. Key Question to Consider
Can the learner access and use the same
materials and technologies selected for the
general education curriculum to support
learning?
@AEM_Center 33

34. Connect with the AEM Center
• Email us at aem@cast.org
• Call us at 781-245-2212
• Follow us on Twitter
• @AEM_Center
• Like us on Facebook
• @AEMCenter
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35. The contents of this webinar were developed
under a cooperative agreement with the US
Department of Education, #H327Z140001.
However, those contents do not necessarily
represent the policy of the US Department of
Education and you should not assume
endorsement by the Federal Government,
Project Officer, Tara Courchaine, Ed.D.
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